Ukraine plans to negotiate FTA with several countries

KIEV, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine, Taras Kachka, said the country plans to start talks or resume negotiations on free trade agreements (FTA) with several countries, including China and Britain, Ukrainian news outlet European Pravda reported on Tuesday.

Kachka said Ukraine wants to start negotiations on a revision of the agreement with Britain, which has not yet entered into force. Also, Ukrainian diplomats will shortly begin negotiations with most North African countries.

"This December, we plan to formalize this in official statements or memoranda, starting from Egypt to Morocco. Also, Jordan, Vietnam and Indonesia are among our priorities," said the deputy minister.

He stressed that Ukraine is ready for the FTA with the leading trading partners like China.

According to the State Statistics Service, the Ukrainian-Chinese trade turnover reached 12.79 billion U.S. dollars last year. Ukrainian exports to China grew by 63.3 percent year on year to reach 3.59 billion dollars, while imports increased by 20.9 percent to hit 9.2 billion dollars in 2019.